A counting and feeding apparatus is conventionally known which feeds small articles of solid medication or food products subdivisionally in small numbers to packaging containers or packaging bags. For example, a counting, filling and packaging machine which counts and packages a predetermined number of medical tablets is proposed in the official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 63-22301.
The counting and filling apparatus includes, as shown in FIG. 12, four supply feeders b for individually transporting tablets thrown in from hoppers a at a predetermined speed, aligning feeders c provided contiguously with the supply feeders b, and temporary reservation chutes d provided below front end edge portions of the aligning feeders c. The counting and filling apparatus counts the number of tablets dropping from each of the aligning feeders c into a corresponding one of the temporary reservation chutes d, takes out tablets accommodated in each of the hoppers a by every predetermined number and feeds the tablets to a packaging mechanism section.
In particular, the tablets accommodated in each of the hoppers a successively drop onto a corresponding one of the supply feeders b and move at a predetermined speed to a corresponding one of the aligning feeders c by microvibration of the supply feeders b until they are accepted by and aligned in a row into an aligning groove (not shown) formed on the aligning feeder c. Thereafter, the tablets move at a predetermined speed in the aligning groove by microvibration of the aligning feeder c and drop one by one into a corresponding one of the temporary reservation chutes d so that they are reserved in the temporary reservation chute d. At this time, the tablets successively dropping from the aligning feeder c onto the temporary reservation chute d are detected and counted by a sensor k formed from light emitting and receiving elements attached to an upper end portion of the temporary reservation chute d. When the count number of the sensor k reaches a predetermined count number, the supply feeder b and the aligning feeder c are stopped, and a first shutter e provided for the temporary reservation chute d is opened. Consequently, the predetermined number of tablets reserved in each of the temporary reservation chutes d are collected into a rotary measure g through a collecting chute f and fed to the packaging mechanism section (not shown), by which subdivided packaging of them is performed.
If a number of tablets greater than the predetermined number is counted by the sensor k, then a second shutter h is opened in place of the first shutter e and tablets in the temporary reservation chutes d are discharged through a discharge chute j, whereafter the supply feeders b and the aligning feeders c are rendered operative to start counting of tablets again. Consequently, the predetermined number of tablets are collected with certainty from each of the temporary reservation chutes d into the rotary measure g.
In this manner, the counting, filling and packaging machine performs counting of tablets by means of each of four counting mechanism sections each including a hopper a, a supply feeder b, an aligning feeder c and a temporary reservation chute d and feeds a predetermined total number of tablets to the packaging mechanism section. Thus, since the counting mechanism sections can individually count predetermined numbers of different tablets, the counting, filling and packaging machine can package a plurality of different kinds of tablets by every predetermined different numbers into a package. Also it is possible for the counting mechanism sections to count tablets of the same type so that the counting, filling and packaging machine can count a single kind of tablets by a predetermined number.
However, the conventional counting, filling and packaging machine has a low processing capacity from a reason of its mechanism. For example, in such a case where a single kind of tablet is counted by several tens or more and filled into a container such as a bottle so that they are packed into the container, the conventional counting, filling and packaging machine exhibits a very low processing efficiency. In this manner, where a high processing capacity is required, the conventional counting, filling and packaging machine is not suitable for practical use.
In particular, in the counting, filling and packaging machine, when a predetermined number of tablets drop into a temporary reservation chute d, the corresponding supply feeder b and aligning feeder c are merely stopped to stop the feeding of tablets as described above. Therefore, after they are stopped, tablets are likely to drop from the aligning feeder c, resulting in overfeeding of tablets. Particularly where the feeding speed is raised, such overfeeding occurs frequently. Therefore, a high processing capacity cannot be achieved. Further, if overfeeding occurs, then the counting result is reset and the counting is performed again as described above. This also causes a drop in the processing capacity.
In this instance, it is a possible idea to increase the number of counting mechanism sections each including a hopper a, a supply feeder b, an aligning feeder c and a temporary reservation chute d to raise the processing capacity. However, this increases the apparatus scale significantly, and an increase in the number of counting mechanism sections raises the frequency of occurrence of overfeeding described above. Therefore, there is the possibility that the processing capacity may drop conversely.
Further, in the apparatus described above, since tablets are dropped by vibration from the aligning feeders c, the feeding speed of tablets is not always constant. Further, also the timing at which a predetermined number of tablets are fed into the rotary measure g finally is irregular depending upon the presence or the number of times of such re-counting as described above. Therefore, much complicated control is required for the starting/stopping of the supply feeders b and the aligning feeders c, the opening/closing operation of the first shutter e, the movement of the rotary measure g and other related movements. Further, since the timing at which tablets are fed into the rotary measure g is irregular, much complicated control is required to synchronize the packaging mechanism section (not shown) with the feeding timing of tablets and also the probability of the occurrence of failure in packaging is likely to rise.
A counting and filling apparatus shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 is available as an apparatus for counting tablets or capsules by a comparatively great number and filling them into a bottle.
In particular, as shown in FIG. 13, the counting and filling apparatus includes two counting sections a, a, collecting funnels b, b provided individually below the counting sections a, a, secondary reservation pipes c, c attached to the lower ends of the collecting funnels b, b, a communication member e to which the secondary reservation pipes c, c are connected, shutters d, d for openably and closably intercepting the communication member e from the secondary reservation pipes c, c, and a chute f disposed below the communication member e.
In the counting and filling apparatus, a predetermined number of tablets or capsules p (hereinafter referred to as “capsules”) counted by each of the counting sections a are reserved into the corresponding secondary reservation pipe c through the corresponding collecting funnel b. Then, the predetermined number of capsules p are fed alternately from the left and the right secondary reservation pipes into a bottle g through the communication member e and the chute f by the opening and closing operations of the shutters d. It is to be noted that the reference character h in FIG. 13 denotes a conveyor belt for transporting the bottle g.
Each of the counting sections a which compose the counting and filling apparatus has a configuration such as shown in FIG. 14. In particular, the counting section a shown includes a capsule feeder a1 having a large number of (15 in the figure) flow paths a6, a photoelectric sensor a2 disposed in the proximity of an end portion of the capsule feeder a1, primary reservation sections a3, a3 disposed on the left and the right below the end portion of the capsule feeder a1, a precise counting reservation section a4 disposed between the primary reservation sections a3, a3, and a primary reservation shutter (not shown) disposed for openably and closably intercepting the collecting funnels b (refer to FIG. 13) from the primary reservation sections a3, a3 and the precise counting reservation section a4 and driven to open and close each by a cylinder a5.
The counting of capsules p by the counting section a is performed in the following manner. In particular, capsules p fed from a hopper (not shown) successively flow along the flow paths a6 of the capsule feeder a1 by microvibration and drop from the ends of the flow paths a6 into the primary reservation sections a3, a3 and the precise counting reservation section a4. Consequently, the capsules p are reserved in the primary reservation sections a3, a3 and the precise counting reservation section a4. At this time, the capsules p dropping from the flow paths a6 into the reservation sections a3, a3 and a4 are counted by the photoelectric sensor a2. At a point of time when a predetermined number of capsules p are reserved in each of the primary reservation sections a3, a3 and the precise counting reservation section a4, the primary reservation shutter (not shown) is opened and the predetermined numbers of capsules p are fed into the secondary reservation pipe c shown in FIG. 13.
In this instance, in the counting sections a, the primary reservation sections a3, a3 perform counting of a major part of the predetermined number to be counted while the precise counting reservation section a4 performs counting of the remaining small number to perform a number adjustment to the predetermined number. In particular, the primary reservation sections a3, a3 perform counting for totaling 14 flow paths a6 from among the 15 flow paths a6, each for seven rows on the left or right and reserves the counted numbers of the capsules p. Meanwhile, the precise counting reservation section a4 performs counting only for the central one of the 15 flow paths a6 and reserves the counted number of the capsules p. For example, in order to count 100 capsules p, the primary reservation sections a3, a3 first count a number of capsules p around 80 (the number varies every time) and feed the approximately 80 capsules p to the secondary reservation pipes c. Then, the remaining number of capsules p around 20 is counted accurately by the precise counting reservation section a4, and the capsules p are fed to the secondary reservation pipes c so that 100 capsules p may be reserved into the secondary reservation pipes c. It is to be noted that, also while the precise counting is performed by the precise counting reservation section a4, the primary reservation sections a3, a3 perform counting of approximately 80 capsules p for the next cycle.
The counting and filling apparatus shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 can count a great number of small articles (capsules) and feed and fill them into bottles or the like comparatively efficiently in this manner. However, since the counting and filling apparatus is configured such that the counting operation for a predetermined number is performed separately by counting of a major part and precision counting, although it can count a great number of small articles efficiently, it exhibits a much deteriorated efficiency in counting for a comparatively small number.
Further, a scraper a7 is attached to the capsule feeder a1 in an opposing relationship to the capsule flow paths a6 as shown in FIG. 14 so that two or more capsules p may not flow in an overlapping relationship. However, even if capsules p flow in a row, if capsules drop from the flow paths a6 in a state wherein they contact with each other or in another state wherein they are very close to each other, then the counting operation by the photoelectric sensor a2 sometimes counts two or more capsules as one capsule. Therefore, the reliability is not necessarily high.
Furthermore, since interception, transportation, feeding and so forth of capsules are controlled by opening and closing operations of the shutter, there is the possibility that a capsule may be broken by the movement of the shutter.